Post Game Notes

March 21, 2009

FINAL: No. 13 Cleveland State 84, No. 4 Wake Forest 69

With the loss...

Wake Forest finishes the season at 24-7 overall (11-5 ACC).
The Deacons suffered their first non-conference loss of the season, ending the year 13-1 against non-ACC foes.
Head coach Dino Gaudio moves to 41-20 in his second season at the helm of the Deacons. Gaudio is now 109-144 in his eighth season overall as a head coach.
Wake Forest moved to 1-2 all-time in games played on the date of March 20, all of which have come in NCAA Tournament play (1992, 2004, 2009).
Wake Forest is 1,404-1,060 in its 103rd season of basketball.

NCAA Tournament History

Wake Forest made its 21st NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since 2005.
Wake is now 27-21 all-time in NCAA Tournament games since first playing in the Big Dance in 1939.
The Deacs failed to advance to at least the second round in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001. That season Wake was upset by Butler, who is also a member of the Horizon League.
Wake Forest dropped to 4-4 all-time when playing as the No. 4 seed.
The Deacons are now 1-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of Florida and 8-7 in Tournament games played on a Friday.
Wake Forest fell to 0-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament action against teams from the state of Ohio. The Deacons last faced the Buckeye State in the 1962 Final Four when Ohio State defeated Wake, 84-68, in the national semifinals.

Series Notes:

Wake Forest lost its first-ever meeting with Cleveland State. It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools in any head-to-head sport.
The Deacs dropped to 2-2 all-time against the Horizon League. Both losses came in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (2001 vs. Butler).
Wake moved to 6-15 all-time against teams from the state of Ohio. The Deacons had their four-game winning streak against the state snapped, falling to the Buckeye State for the first time since 1999-2000.
Dino Gaudio fell to 1-2 all-time against Horizon League competition and 1-3 all-time against schools from his home state of Ohio.

Key Runs - First Half

Cleveland State scored the first nine points of the game on three three-pointers. The Vikings led 14-4 at the first media timeout.
With CSU holding an 18-10 advantage, the Vikings used an 11-2 run to take a 29-12 lead at the 8:54 mark.
Trailing 37-21 at the 4:43 mark, Wake Forest closed the fist half on a 9-2 run. James Johnson capped the run with a three-pointer with 32 seconds left in the half.

First Half Notes

Johnson had a game-high 15 points at halftime and made each of his three three-point attempts in the period.
The Deacons also had nine blocks in the first period, as Johnson and McFarland had three apiece.
Wake Forest out-shot Cleveland State in the first half. The Deacons shot 47.6 percent from the field, while the Vikings shot 40.5 percent.
The rebounds were even at 18 apiece, but CSU was able to pull down nine offensive boards and scored 13 second-chance points in the first half.
The Deacs trailed by nine at the half, which marked Wake's second-largest halftime deficit of the season (11 at Duke).

Key Runs - Second Half

Wake Forest cut the deficit to seven four times early in the second half but the Deacons still trailed by nine, 55-46, at the second media timeout at 11:22.
A three-point play by David Weaver pulled Wake Forest to within six at 55-49 at the 11:04 mark. However, CSU responded with a three-pointer and then another bucket to push its lead back to 11.
After Wake cut the deficit to six on Weaver's three-point play, Cleveland State went on an 11-2 run to take a 66-51 advantage with seven minutes left in the game.

James Johnson Continues Late Season Hot Streak

Sophomore forward James Johnson entered the NCAA Tournament averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds over his last seven games. Johnson did nothing to diminish those numbers.
Johnson finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. He also went 8-for-13 from the field and had four blocks on the defensive end.
Johnson turned in his sixth 20-point performance in his last eight games.
In the first half alone, Johnson scored 15 points, hit three buckets from beyond the arc and had three blocks.

Jeff Teague Surpasses 1,000-Point Mark

Sophomore guard Jeff Teague reached the 1,000-point plateau for his career on Friday. Teague finished with 10 points to give him exactly 1,000 for his career.
Teague registered the 1,000th point with a free throw at the 2:35 mark of the second half. He becomes the 45th member of Wake Forest's 1,000-Point Club.
Teague also extended his ACC-best double-figure scoring streak to 35 games. He has scored in double figures in 49 of his past 52 games.

Tony Woods Makes First Career Start

Freshman center Tony Woods made his first collegiate start on Friday. Woods was inserted into the lineup to replace junior Chas McFarland, who had started 29 games this year and 56 games over the past two seasons combined.
It was Wake Forest's fourth different lineup of the season.

Miscellaneous Team Notes

Wake Forest shot 52.0 percent from the field and hit 5-of-13 three-point attempts. It was the Deacons' 17th performance shooting above 50 percent this season.
Wake Forest's 13 blocked shots were a season-high, besting the previous mark of 11 set at Clemson on Jan. 17.

Wake Forest Athletics